Toxic
by Twilight Akashiya
Summary: Yuki is a girl who was taken to the Tower of Heaven and became close friends with a boy named Erik.


"Keep working!" The order was emphasized by the crack of a whip.

But the small and frail pink-haired girl was exhausted. She was a victim of the small party of wizards that had invaded the Land of Isvan. But she was the only one from there. Others were from nearby towns, but only a few were from far away places. Her long dark hot pink hair was dirty with the grime and her once lively dark blue eyes held only two emotions: pain and sorrow.

"Hey, get up or you'll be _transferred_, Kagome Milkovich of Group C,_ nya_." A girl with long silvery white, pale skin, and blood red eyes whispered as she walked past the pinkette.

_Transferred._ That was a word that held different meanings in this place. For in the outside world, it meant to convey or remove a person to a different place. But here in the R-System, it is a term usually associated with a person being tortured to death because they didn't meet the occult's standards. Rarely did_ transfer_ mean that the person go to a different group or working station. It was a one in a million chance to ever make it out of being tortured and transferred. When someone was tortured they either didn't make it out alive or they had hanged. Drastically...

"Yes, Miyuki Cerulean of Group A, I do not wish to be transferred, so I must work for these people. If I ever hope to see my mother and my friends again, I must play by these people's rules." The pinkette, Kagome, said as she struggled to stand up.

The white-haired girl, Miyuki, turned around, "No, I am no longer Miyuki Cerulean of Group A, I am now Yuki Cerulean of Group E, do not forget this,_ nya_. I was transferred for attempting escape, _nya_."

"Alright, break time, you slaves. Group D and Group E are first today, you have fifteen minutes to eat and drink. NOW MOVE IT!" A guard barked.

"Farewell, Kagome Milkovich of Group C, it is time for me to feed, _nya_." Yuki sighed in relief.

She ran to where they were handing out bread, water, and a form of dried meat. This group system was how they feed the slaves during the day without stopping production. They were divided into groups and while two rested the others kept working until it was their turn. But the system was only for feeding and the places where the slaves slept at night. But the slaves usually got to roam around at night just so long as they returned to their sleeping area and didn't cause any trouble. The rest of the day, the system served useless, people worked all over the place, but they did tend to stay near those in their groups, so the system had some uses to it.

They didn't have long to eat, so they had to be quick. The guards didn't care if the slaves had a chance to eat, in fact they wouldn't even feed them if they weren't worth more alive than dead.

Yuki grabbed her small share and ran to find a corner to eat peacefully in. It wasn't uncommon for some of the older, larger slaves to steal food from the younger, smaller ones.

She had a spot behind some crates where the others wouldn't be able to see her, but found it currently occupied. It was a young boy with very dark maroon hair, so dark that it almost looked brown, violet eyes, and tanned skin. He had a purple snake in his hands.

"Where did you find that, _nya_?" Yuki didn't know snakes could even be in that color.

"It's none of your business!" The boy snapped, leaning over the snake protectively.

"S-sorry, I was curious, _nya_. I didn't know snakes could be such a pretty color,_ nya_." Yuki sniffed.

"It's fine, you just surprised me, that's why I snapped at you." He said while running a hand through his hair.

"Sorry, can I sit with here with you and eat,_ nya_? I don't want anyone to take my food, _nya_." Yuki wasn't exactly small for her age, but she was starting to have a large bust size, so she looked like a small young adult and people took advantage of that.

"Fine." The boy said, he didn't want to make a fuss. He knew what it was like to have something taken away.

Yuki sat down next to him and nibbled on her rations while he murmured to his pet occasionally giving it bits of his food.

"What's her name,_ nya_?"

"His name is Cubellios." The boy said a bit defensively.

"Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your pet's a she, _nya_."

"How do you know that? And he's not a pet! He's my friend. My first friend." He mumbled the last bit but Yuki still heard it.

_He must have been alone even before he was brought here, nya. Then again, I'm no different. Aquamaria left me on my own after Deliora was defeated, nya... I hate that stupid demon, nya! Because of it, my mother left me, nya!_ Yuki thought.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I guess Cubellios could be a he, _nya_. Sorry, I didn't know,_ nya_. I'm sorry, Cubellios, _nya_." Yuki apologized to Cubellios and to the boy.

To her surprise, Cubellios hissed and sort of nodded at Yuki.

"Wow, _nya_! He's really smart, _nya_!" Yuki said in surprise and to the boy's great surprise, Yuki gave Cubellios a small piece of her meat.

"What's your name, _nya_? Mine is Yuki Cerulean of Group E,_ nya_." Yuki said while holding out her hand.

"I'm Erik Night of The Same Group." He seemed to be in shock and numbly shook Yuki's hand.

"That's a cool name, _nya_. Hey, do you want to be my friend too, _nya_? I can help you take care of Cubellios since he's so small, _nya_." _and I don't want to be alone anymore, nya._

"I-I guess you can, as long as you don't cause me any trouble." Erik said though on the inside he was so happy. Though he wasn't sure how much he could even trust this girl, he now had two friends and one of them he could even talk to.

"Alright Group D and Group E back to work. Group F and Group G your turn."

Both children froze before springing into action. Yuki ran back to the pile of rumble she was carrying, shoving her uneaten bread down her shirt, Erik did the same with Cubellios. They both spared each other a glance before focusing solely on their work. They'd meet up later.

The happiness Yuk felt after becoming friends with Erik was replaced with the perpetual fear everyone felt under the watchful eyes of their masters and their pet monsters.

Yuki vaguely heard as other groups were called to take their breaks but it didn't break her pace until she heard a boy cry out near glanced over her shoulder to see a child about her age being pushed to the ground while an adult ran away with his food. The boy had odd colored hair. It was black but underneath it was white. After the man was gone he remained on the ground holding head, crying and trembling while others looked on. The guards did nothing, they would never interfere unless there was a fight or it disrupted their couldn't help but pity him. It wasn't fun being the smallest and weakest of the group in a place like this. And the boy was definitely scrawny even for someone of this age, this probably happened a lot to him. Yuki remembered the bread in her shirt and after a brief debate she turned around started walking towards the boy.

She had her arms full of unusable rubble and when she passed by him she threw the rubble into the air and in the mere few seconds the rumble was in the air, Yuki had thrown the bread to him and caught the rubble.

"Don't let anyone see it and eat it when you're alone, _nya_." Yuki hissed as she walked to a garbage boy could only stare as the girl with long silvery white hair and blood red eyes walked away, stunned by her kindness. A moment later he scrambled to hide the bread as she had suggested and went back to work when his group's break tried to catch sight of her again but gave up when the guards began to eye him. He didn't stop thinking about her though. He wondered what her name was.

**(Night Time/A Month Later)**

The day was finally over. Yuki was exhausted physically and mentally. Three salves had collapsed and were subsequently beaten and/or whipped. Yuki recognized two as Sorano Aguria of Group A and Kagome Milkovich of Group C the other she could not identify. A few of the slaves paused to watch the gruesome display, the guards their their whips on them. They quickly turned back to their work and by the third time it happened nobody even noticed this. Yuki fell on the ground from pure exhaustion. The guards were savagely kicking her awake.

The girl cried in pain. There were more wizards coming. But two boys came to help one of them, Eric, and the other a boy with cerulean blue hair, dark eyes, and a tattoo over his left eye. (AN: I have no idea what the f#ck that is, I personally think it's a birthmark but I don't think birthmarks can be that intricate either so I don't know.)

"Hey, you've already starved her halfway to death's door. Why don't you stop?" The blue-haired boy said as he picked her up.

"What will you do about it?" The guard glared at the boy.

"I'll feed her my blood so she'll have the power to kill you guys. She's a vampire you know that right?" The boy said.

"VAMPIRE!? I totally forgot about that!" The guard ran away from the three children.

"Thank you, Jellal, Erik, _nya_." Yuki breathed as she leaned against the wall.

"So what were you thinking passing out?" Jellal asked.

"I was exhausted so I fell down,_ nya_." Yuki said

."That would be considered a reflex and operate your body manually as opposed to other people who have reflexes use auto-pilot. That's how you can take a full-head-on attack from Misogi Kumagawa of Group Z. So don't even try to explain that it was because you knew what you were doing so why did you do it?" Jellal asked.

"Geez, I wanted to lay down and sleep but apparently I don't get that right,_ nya_. Then again isn't that Macbeth's prayer, _nya_?" Yuki said. (So I read one of the newer chapters in the manga and it says that Midnight's real name is Macbeth. I was laughing my ass off for three hours about this.)

"Yeah I guess it is.. What's your prayer again, Erik?" Jellal asked.

"To hear Cubellios' voice of course. My one true friend." Erik said.

"Oh you suck,_ nya_! I thought I was your friend Eri-chan, _nya_!" Yuki said.

"You are and stop calling me 'Eri-chan'! It's annoying!" Erik said.

"What about you, Jellal, _nya_. What's your prayer, _nya_?" Yuki asked the bluette.

"My prayer... My prayer is to find real freedom(I just had to do that!) I guess. What about you, Yu-chan?" Jellal said.

"I guess my prayer is to be able to see Aquamaria again, _nya_. I just want to see her once more... _Nya_" Yuki said before she lost her Erik caught her before she fell. Yuki had a slight blush on her face.

"Thank you, Erik,_ nya._" Yuki managed to say.

"No problem, are you gonna be okay... Yu-chan?" She almost didn't hear her nickname as Erik uttered it so softly.

"Yeah, I just need to sleep, _nya_." Yuki replied.

"Then I guess it's time to go to my favorite spot." Erik said as he picked Yuki up bridal-style.

"Nya." Yuki replied but the two boys understood it as yes. When she wanted to say no she would say 'Nyu' so they communicated on a different level than most because they were all originally from Group A, but Jellal somehow managed to stay in Group A while the other two went to Group E.

Jellal followed the two to the other side of the tower where a window overlooked the sea.

"And why is this your favorite spot, other than the fact that Cubellios lives here?" Jellal asked.

Erik payed the bluette no mind, "Look!" Erik pointed to the night sky. The three children and snake saw a shooting star. After a few minutes thousands of stars started to fall.

"It's... It's so beautiful..._Nya_" Yuki said in awe.

"Wow, I can see why you like this stuff now..." Jellal said staring at the night sky.

"I know, right? That's why I've always come here before I go to sleep. This happens every single night." Erik said, continuing to look at the shooting realized something.

Jellal realized something then. He had heard others talking about a boy who was always going off somewhere every night. So, the boy was sure that it must be his rival, Erik...

"You've always came her to see the shooting stars, _nya_?"

Erik nodded. "Sure do. Whenever I'm up here and see a shooting star, I've always made a wish."

"A wish?" Jellal asked, "What do you wish for?"

"Well..." Erik placed his hands behind his head. "It's the same wish that everyone here I guess, for freedom."

"Do shooting stars help you, _nya_?"

"Obviously no. But sometimes, looking at the stars and making a wish, it's always made me feel better." Erik all remained silent for the next hour, just watching the stars fall from the sky.

"Hey, Erik... _nya_." Yuki broke the silence.

"...What is it?"

"What would you do if you and I would ever be separated from each other, _nya_?" She asked. The boy remained silent. "When we get out of here, do you think... we can see each other again?"

"I don't know, but I'd do the same thing with Cubellios as I would with you..." he rubbed his head. "If we were ever separated from each other, I'll surely ride a shooting star to come and get you someday. Like that." He said, pointing to one of the shooting

For a moment, the silver-haired girl giggled.

"W-What's so funny?" The two boys were shocked.

"I don't know..._ nya_" she stared at the sky. "It's really weird though I think it's a great idea, _nya~_"  
'You know she likes me more than you, Night. So don't go thinking you can steal her from me.' Jellal thought fully knowing that Erik could hear his thoughts.

"You really must wanna die, Fernandes, if you're so bold to even think that." Erik whispered harshly.

"No, I just know more than you do." Jellal whispered back.

"Oh you can just go to he-"

"I can hear you guys,_ nya_. So shut up,_ nya_!" Yuki said.

"Sorry!" The two boys said in unison.

"It's fine but please stop fighting, _nya_..." Yuki said.

* * *

**So what do you guys think?**


End file.
